A series of occasional reviews of books, new and old, written by L.A. Tonkovich, formerly ten years old, now eleven.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

A Review of "Freddy and the Bean Home News" by Walter R. Brooks

A Review of Freddy and the Bean Home News by Walter R. Brooks, with illustrations by Kurt Wiese

written by L.A. Tonkovich

Freddy and the Bean Home News is one of a series of books about a farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bean. This book takes place in 1943 in World War Two. On this farm there are some very smart animals who can talk, though in the beginning the humans cannot understand them. The main character is a pig named Freddy, who in the series takes on the careers of a detective, a politician, an explorer and many other things. In Freddy and the Bean Home News, Freddy is an editor and organizes the paper after the Guardian, the Centerboro (the nearest town) paper, is taken over by a man named Garble who immediately kicks out the former editor, Freddy’s friend Mr. Dimesy. He and Freddy create the Home News with a hand press in Mr. Dimesy’s basement. The Home News competes against the Guardian and people in Centerboro read it, not only animals. While this is all going on there is also a scrap drive in the county and the Bean animals are trying hard to win. The election of the sheriff is coming up too and Mr. Garble is running as sheriff. Of course, the real person who is behind all of this is Mrs. Underdunk, Garble’s rich sister. While the election and the two papers grab most people’s attention there is also the scrap drive which ends soon and the Bean farm is very much behind. Will their winning have something to do with the iron deer in Mrs. Underdunk’s yard? As the fight in the papers turns to violence and physical brutality and wanted posters are out for Freddy, the Bean farm is in a real mess. I suggest this book and all 26 books of the Freddy series as good reading material. This is a wonderful series.